Salisbury University’s chapter of Project KISS (Keeping It Sexually Safe) held its pillow talk event; an open conversation about sex and sexual health. The event was held to celebrate National Women and Girls HIV/ AIDS Awareness Day.
At the event, topics such as breast exams, contraception, and myths surrounding STI’s were discussed.
KISS is a student health peer-education group that promotes sexual health around campuses. Students may recognize the group handing out condoms and holding other events where they discuss sex.
“I think these events are so important because we can get people talking about sex,” said board member Kelsey Kengla. “I am someone who can stand up and talk about sex and I don’t care, but there are a lot of people who are very weary to answer questions surrounding sex.”
About 30 people came to the event. Although the original idea of a pajama party fell through, the audience was very open to discussion.
“I think that this was a pretty good event. We sometimes have a hard time getting people to come so I’m really glad about the turn out we had today,” said Kengla. “I think a lot of the time when we say ‘We’re going to be talking about sex today’, people don’t want to go because they don’t want to put themselves in the position to talk about it, but I think it’s important for people to come here because they learn a lot of things they didn’t know before.”
Project KISS will have several more events at Salisbury this year. On April 17, the group will have its second annual rubber runway fashion show, where they repurpose condoms as fashion.
“Last year when we did [the fashion show] it was on UMES’ campus. We were more so guests on their campus and we brought our garments to them,” Kengla said. “It was a pretty well-known event, but we didn’t have a huge audience. This year, it’s our event so we can promote it more and get people to come and watch and be a part of it.”